Comparative analysis of fuel wood consumption of improved mud stove and three stone fire stove: a case study

Abstract

Energy crisis is a global issue in recent times. Meeting the energy requirements for daily cooking and heating in rural population using biomass as a fuel in traditional cookstoves (TCS) is an energy consuming and inefficient method. Moreover, the use of biomass in TCS causes serious health and environmental problems. TCS have very low efficiency and high fuel consumption. A kitchen performance test (KPT) was conducted in order to measure fuel wood consumption by TCS and improved cookstoves (ICS). Furthermore, the fuel wood consumption of the study area is also estimated. The fuel wood characteristics are determined by proximate and ultimate analysis. The KPT results show that ICS reduces fuel consumption by 0.16 kg/person/day. The ICS can also reduce 0.258 tonnes of CO2 emissions per ICS user annually. Stove performance index shows that ICS uses 6% less fuel as compared to TCS. ICS also emits significantly less CO and PM emissions. The use of ICS would also possibly solve the environmental impacts of fuel wood collection and combustion.